AAFP and ISFM feline-friendly nursing care guidelines

NURSING CARE: The term nursing care means different things to different people. The authors of these AAFP and ISFM Feline-Friendly Nursing Care Guidelines define nursing care as any interaction between the cat and the veterinary team (veterinarian, technician or nurse, receptionist or other support staff) in the clinic, or between the cat and its owner at home, that promotes wellness or recovery from illness or injury and addresses the patient's physical and emotional wellbeing. Nursing care also helps the sick or convalescing cat engage in activities that it would be unable to perform without help. GUIDELINES RATIONALE: The purpose of the Guidelines is to help all members of the veterinary team understand the basic concepts of nursing care, both in the clinic and at home. This includes methods for keeping the patient warm, comfortable, well nourished, clean and groomed. The Guidelines provide numerous practical tips gleaned from the authors' many years of clinical experience and encourage veterinary team members to look at feline nursing care in ways they previously may not have considered. OVERARCHING GOAL: The primary goal of feline-friendly nursing care is to make the cat feel safe and secure throughout its medical experience.     

Rapid detection of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Peste des Petits Ruminants</Emphasis> (PPR) virus antigen in Sudan by agar gel precipitation (AGPT) and haemagglutination (HA) Tests

AGPT and HA tests were employed for rapid diagnosis of PPRV infection in sheep and goats in Sudan. Forty lymph nodes and spleen samples from suspected cases of PPR in both sheep and goats were examined by AGPT and HA tests for detection of PPRV antigen. Viral antigen was detected from (77.5%) of the samples tested by AGPT and (92.5%) tested by HA test. The results of both tests revealed that HA test was more sensitive than AGPT for detection of PPRV antigen (Kappa statistics 0.4366). Another advantage of the HA test over AGPT was that it can differentiate PPRV from RPV. Thus the HA test represents a quick, easy, simple, cheap and reliable confirmatory test for the diagnosis of PPR and differential diagnosis of PPRV and RPV. The HA test was carried out using chicken, goat and pig RBCs. Chicken RBCs were found to be the most sensitive for detection of PPRV antigen, followed by goat then pig RBCs. The HA time when using chicken RBCs was 20–25 minutes, using goat RBCs was 25–30 minutes and using pig RBCs was 40–45 minutes. The distribution of PPR infection in four different regions of Sudan was investigated.     

Heat stress and effect of shade materials on hormonal and behavior response of dairy cattle: a review

In tropical countries, at high temperatures, several physiological rearrangements occur in cows as they attempt to facilitate heat dissipation and/or reduce metabolic heat production. Following exposure to heat, cattle appear to acclimatize within 2–7 weeks. The failure of homeostasis at high temperatures may lead to reduced productivity or even death. The situation is even worse when humidity adds to high temperature. Livestock with elevated body temperature exhibit lower DMI and growth with less efficiency, reducing profitability for dairy farms in hot and humid climates. Shading of feed and water also offers production advantages. Although several elaborate methods for reducing heat stress in cows have been reported, simple shade materials appear to be the most cost-effective methods that are currently applicable to tropical developing countries. Different materials are being used to provide shade during warm weather. The shade material determines the microclimate—it should be light, strong, durable, weatherproof, good looking and a bad conductor of heat, and free from tendency to condense moisture inside. This review discusses various shade materials and their advantages and disadvantages in different situations.     

Ultrastructural study on scab resistance expressed in epidermal pectin layers of pear leaves

Proliferation and collapse of subcuticular hyphae of Venturia nashicola race 1 were studied ultrastructurally, after inoculation of susceptible Japanese pear cv. Kousui, resistant Japanese pear cv. Kinchaku, resistant Asian pear strain Mamenashi 12 and nonhost European pear cv. Flemish Beauty leaves, to understand the nature of the resistance mechanism. After cuticle penetration by the pathogen, the hyphae were observed at lower frequency in epidermal pectin layers and middle lamellae of leaves of the three resistant plants than in those of susceptible ones. This result suggested that fungal growth was suppressed in the incompatible interaction between pear and V. nashicola race 1. In the pectin layers of all inoculated plants, some hyphae had modifications such as breaks in the plasmalemma with plasmolysis, necrotic cytoplasm and degraded cell walls. More hyphae had collapsed in the leaves of the three resistant plants than in those of the susceptible cv. Kousui. In collapsed hyphae, the polymerized cell walls broke into numerous fibrous and amorphous pieces, showing that the scab resistance might be associated with cell wall-degrading enzymes from pear plants.     

Phytotoxin produced by the netted scab pathogen, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Streptomyces turgidiscabies</Emphasis> strain 65, isolated in Sweden

Streptomyces spp. are a highly diverse group of bacteria most of which are soil-inhabiting saprophytes. A few are plant pathogens that produce a family of phytotoxins called thaxtomins and cause significant economic losses, e.g., by reducing the marketability of potato tubers (Solanum tuberosum). In northern Europe, S. scabies, S. turgidiscabies and S. europaeiscabiei are the most common plant pathogenic species. In this study, a Streptomyces strain isolated from a netted scab lesion on a tuber of potato cv. Bintje in northern Sweden was identified as S. turgidiscabies but was found to differ in the genomic region carrying genes required for thaxtomin biosynthesis. Our results showed that the strain did not produce thaxtomin but rather phytotoxin fridamycin E, which is an anthraquinone novel to plant pathogenic Streptomyces spp. Fridamycin E was shown to reduce or inhibit sprouting of potato microtubers in vitro. While fridamycin E is known to have antibiotic activity against Gram-positive bacteria, the inhibitory activity of fridamycin E on plant growth is a novel finding.     

Productive efficiency of the sandfish <Emphasis Type="Italic">Arctoscopus japonicus</Emphasis> coastal gillnet fishery using stochastic frontier analysis

It is important to estimate the productive efficiencies of industries, especially the fishing industry, in order to determine policies that can improve business conditions. In this study, the productive efficiency of the sandfish coastal gillnet fishery on the east coast of Korea has been estimated using stochastic frontier analysis (SFA). A translog production function wherein the inefficiency was represented by a truncated-normal distribution was established; the output variable was the trip production quantity, the input variables were physical production factors directly related to the fishing activities of vessels, such as tonnage, horsepower, and the number of employed fishers. The average productive efficiency of the sample was 0.59 [0.40–0.79], which implied that productive inefficiency occurs in sandfish coastal gillnet vessels. Moreover, it was verified that there are no differences among the average productive efficiencies of fishing vessels of different tonnages.     

斑背大尾莺汉口亚种(Locustella pryeri sinensis)遗传多样性及种群结构研究

采用线粒体控制区（807bp）序列分析对中国境内斑背大尾驾3个繁殖种群及1个越冬种群的遗传多样性及种群遗传结构,结果表明：斑背大尾莺的单倍型歧义度（Hd）为0.759&#177;0.056,核苷酸多样性较（π）为0.002。三个地理种群的FST值以及繁殖种群同越冬种群之间的ΦST值表明不同地理单元之间无显著遗传分化。对不同单倍型的聚类分析（UPGMA）结果以及网络图（Network picture）结果也支持不同种群之间无显著分化。分子变异分析 （AMOVA）显示斑背大尾莺汉口亚种不同地理种群间遗传差异不大,98.5%的差异源自种群内部,仅1.5%源自种群间。中性检验结果Fu’sFS值为负值,错配分布分析结果呈单峰,表明斑背大尾驾在我国的进化史经历了种群扩张。这一假设也得到Tajima’D检验和Fu’s检验结果的支持（D=-1.80,p=0.02;Fs=-22.11,p=0.001）,该扩张大约发生在28,700年前。     

Susceptibility of cocooned pupae and adults of the parasitoid <Emphasis Type="Italic">Microplitis mediator</Emphasis> to selected insecticides

The braconid parasitoid Microplitis mediator (Haliday) is a key natural enemy of the cabbage moth, Mamestra brassicae (L.), in Europe. In the context of an Integrated Pest Management approach, the use of selective insecticides is essential for the conservation of naturally occurring beneficial arthropods. The present laboratory study investigated the side effects of six insecticides applied at recommended field rates on adults and cocooned pupae of M. mediator. Male and female parasitoids were paired in drum cells contaminated with dry residues of insecticides. Besides lethal effects after 24 h, parasitization capacity and longevity of the surviving parasitoids was evaluated. Lethal effects on cocooned pupae were also investigated by assessing adult emergence from treated cocoons. Pirimicarb caused 100% adult mortality after 24 h, whereas the other tested insecticides caused no direct toxic effects. However, sub-lethal effects in terms of reduced parasitization activity, percentage of parasitism or female longevity were found for flonicamid, pymetrozine, spinosad and thiacloprid. Spirotetramat shortened only male longevity. Adult emergence from treated cocoons was reduced only by flonicamid and pymetrozine.     

‘Plantibodies’: a flexible approach to design resistance against pathogens

Engineering resistance against various diseases and pests is hampered by the lack of suitable genes. To overcome this problem we started a research program aimed at obtaining resistance by transfecting plants with genes encoding monoclonal antibodies against pathogen specific proteins. The idea is that monoclonal antibodies will inhibit the biological activity of molecules that are essential for the pathogenesis. Potato cyst nematodes are chosen as a model and it is thought that monoclonal antibodies are able to block the function of the saliva proteins of this parasite. These proteins are, among others, responsible for the induction of multinucleate transfer cells upon which the nematode feeds. It is well documented that the ability of antibodies to bind molecules is sufficient to inactivate the function of an antigen and in view of the potential of animals to synthesize antibodies to almost any molecular structure, this strategy should be feasible for a wide range of diseases and pests.Antibodies have several desirable features with regard to protein engineering. The antibody (IgG) is a Y-shaped molecule, in which the domains forming the tips of the arms bind to antigen and those forming the stem are responsible for triggering effector functions (Fc fragments) that eliminate the antigen from the animal. Domains carrying the antigen-binding loops (Fv and Fab fragments) can be used separately from the Fc fragments without loss of affinity. The antigen-binding domains can also be endowed with new properties by fusing them to toxins or enzymes. Antibody engineering is also facilitated by the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). A systematic comparison of the nucleotide sequence of more than 100 antibodies revealed that not only the 3′-ends, but also the 5′-ends of the antibody genes are relatively conserved. We were able to design a small set of primers with restriction sites for forced cloning, which allowed the amplification of genes encoding antibodies specific for the saliva proteins ofGlobodera rostochiensis. Complete heavy and light chain genes as well as single chain Fv fragments (scFv), in which the variable parts of the light (V_L) and heavy chain (V_H) are linked by a peptide, will be transferred to potato plants. A major challenge will be to establish a correct expression of the antibody genes with regard to three dimensional folding, assembly and intracellular location.